From the crow’s nest at Nenagh Olympic Stadium

NENAGH OLYMPIC STADIUM hosted the U-13 to U-19 Munster Indoor Championships over the weekend of February 28 and March 1, 2015 and Limerick Athletic Club had 29 athletes lining out among Munster’s top juvenile athletes to compete across 24 events.

MEDAL WINNERS

Limerick Athletic Club returned home with two silver medals and three bronze following the weekend at Nenagh.

Rapid Rachel on the Silver Podium

GIRLS U-15 800m

In the girls U-15 800m Rachel Hosey achieved a personal best of 2:29.60 over the four indoor laps. Rachel was first to cross the line in her heat and not only did her natural ability shine at this event, but her strategic maturity at controlling the race was being discussed by many observers following the heats.

Two LAC athletes lined out for the final of this event, Rachel was joined by Laura Hession – who had qualified well. The race was run over a very quick pace with much jostling at the start and some of the wilier athletes had effectively cut Laura out of medal contention yet she battled on and finished in a time of 2:36.40 which cements her position as seventh best 800m indoor runner for her age in Munster.

Rachel took the silver medal following an immense battle between gold medallist Fiona Doyle of Star of the Laune AC whose time of 2:28.81 was a mere four fifths of a second ahead of Rachel’s PB. Emma Casey of Clonmel’s time of 2:30.34 secured her the bronze.

Junior and Stanley at the 60m Blocks

BOYS U-17 60m HURDLES

LAC’s Junior Echeruwe qualified for the U-17 Boys 60m Hurdle final by blasting over the three foot high hurdles to finish fourth in his heat. Going on his recent performances his coaches were convinced that nothing short of a record breaking time could beat him. They would have been correct if it wasn’t for Moycarkey AC’s Daniel Ryan who demolished the thirteen-year-old record of 8.54secs held by Greg O’Leary of Leevale AC. Junior, however, endowed the LAC supporters with a laureate-like grace as he glided over the barriers to collect his silver medal following his time of 9.69secs.

Junior, Glody, Stanley and Sean

BOYS U-17 60m SPRINT

Stanley Ikeh adopted the crouch start position beside his club colleague Junior for the final of the U-17 60m sprint. Both LAC athletes had posted increasingly wondrous times throughout the indoor season and this was not going to be different for the Limerick duo.

Junior dashed to the bronze medal position just a mere three hundredths of a second quicker than Stanley’s 7.46sec in a race where Moycarkey’s Daniel Ryan took gold with 7.29secs and Jamie Mitchell of Emerald AC was awarded silver for his run of 7.38secs over the 60m distance.

Early morning LAC Supporters in situe

BOYS U-17 200m SPRINT

LAC’s Stanley Ikeh qualified for the U-17 200m final, with a time of 24.20secs, in second place behind Emerald’s Jamie Mitchell who shattered a seven year standing record of 23.74secs held by Dooneen AC’s Nathan Jege with a run of 23.65secs. Stanley was motivated to improve on his time for the final run.

The final was a highly anticipated event and when it came round Nenagh Olympic Stadium hushed into silence as Thomond Park would when the fly-half places the ball for a penalty kick. Four superb athletes, the four fastest fifteen-year-olds over 200m indoors in Munster were poised ready to emerge from the blocks as the victor.

Stanley had an incredible start and both he and Dooneen’s Cathal Locke were inseparable throughout. As they raced round the final bend, Stanley in Lane 3, Locke in Lane 2, both were indistinguishable blurs. Yet from lane 1, Mitchell was emerging as the race leader and crossed the line in 23.09secs breaking his own short-lived record while Locke pipped Stanley by two hundredths of one second, claiming silver in 24.06secs while Stanley accepted the bronze for his effort of 24.08secs.

Medal winner Sean

BOYS U-17 LONG JUMP

LAC’s Sean Harris bounded to the bronze section of the podium with a leap of 5.43m in the U-17 long jump. Sean was gratified with his medal position and following the event he immediately started discussing improving on his technique for the upcoming outdoor season with his coaches. The young Limerick man was impressed at how the gold medallist’s jump of 6.09m from Joseph Miniter of St Mary’s Clare AC was carried out and is confident that he will get to a similar distance in the future while knowing that he can match the silver jump of 5.73m from Cathal O’Brien of Ennis Track.

Rebecca, Eda and Eva

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES

Limerick Athletic Club was represented by many athletes that have impressed themselves and their coaches over the weekend and who excelled past their own expectations for the event. For example Eda Kiely entered her first competitive 4kg throw in the U-19 Girls Shot Put and her throw of 8.39m was just twenty centimetres off a medal winning throw. Eda finished in fourth spot and her coaches are confident that LAC supporters will see her decorated with medals in the near future.

In her debut Shot Put competition U-13 girls Ciara Grimes threw the 2kg weight 5.59m while also qualifying for the 60m finals in a time of 9.20secs.

Her club colleague Dharma Griffin ran in heat four of the U-13 girls 60m and reached the final with her time of 9.10secs.

Rory Prendeville became the sixth fastest twelve-year-old in Munster over 800m indoors with a time of 2:26.37 and Harry Doyle can claim that he is in the top fifteen in Munster following his run of 2:45.64 over the same distance.

In the U-18 boys long jump Joseph Spratt and Glody Swana jumped 4.96m and 4.60m bringing them to be Munster’s fourth and fifth longest jumpers indoors respectively this season.

Glody lining up to sprint

Glody Swana lies just outside the top ten 60m sprinters of his age with his time of 7.68. He can also lay claim to the fact that he is the tenth fastest U-18 over 200m indoors provincially with his time of 25.91secs while Luke O’Donoghue is in the top fifteen 200m sprinters indoors in Munster for the U-16 category for his time of 27.38secs. Luke also catapulted himself in the top ten 800m indoor runners for his age group. His time of 2:31.88 makes him the sixth fastest in the province.

Luke reached the finals of the U-16 60m Hurdles in a time of 11.14secs and his brother Gary O’Donoghue qualified from heat two in 10.89secs making him one of the quickest U-13 hurdlers across Munster while also enjoying being in the top ten 60m indoor sprinters of his age following his time of 9.57secs from heat two of that category.

The LAC U-15 girls long jump trio of Asia O’Brien, Aoife Mangan and Caoimhe Ryan jumped 3.91m, 3.65m and 3.62m respectively and have leaped into the top twenty for their age group. The trio are preparing for the outdoor season and are looking forward to improving their positions. While in the same age bracket’s 60m sprint Hannah Hartnett ran a spirited race despite the dash not suiting her at all.

LAC athlete Sadhbh de Barra performed well on the day and her 800m run has placed her in Munster’s top ten U-17 performers this year.

In the boys U-14 60m Dara Costelloe narrowly missed out on a final qualification while in the 800m both himself and Adam Stapleton were terribly unlucky not to reach the finals.

In the girls 60m Ellen Mulrooney just missed finals qualification by the blink of an eye and in the 800m she was fourth in her heat. Also in the 800m Roisín O’Connor came third in her heat followed by Makayla Ryan Wade and Rebecca Kiely.

In the U-14 girls Shot Put Alex Kiely was on form yet a few centimetres kept her out of the medal positions.

Officious looking gentlemen

In a statement the LAC coaches said: “All LAC athletes have shown incredible dedication and commitment to their training and there have been some amazing improvements across the board. It has been a long season since we resumed training after the summer break, with the cross country events before Christmas and the indoors since the new year, we would like to thank all our athletes from the Little Active Cheetahs right up to the Masters for a glorious indoor season for Limerick Athletic Club.

Some of the gang at pre-competition training at Nenagh

We have a national indoor champion in Alana Frataroli and everyone is improving. We would like to wish our athletes competing in the school’s events this Tuesday – March 3 – all the best and we have another huge weekend next week when the U-9 to U-12 athletes meet for their Munster Indoor Championships.

It has been a great year so far for everyone at the club. We’re looking forward to the future. Thank you all.”

Rapid Rachel rallies another reward

RAPID RACHEL has added another medal to her already bulging trophy cabinet following a lifetime best performance in the U-15 Girls 800m of 2min 29secs at the Munster Indoor Championships held at Nenagh Olympic Stadium over the weekend of February 28 and March 1.

In her heats, young Hosey, had flown home in first position by executing an acutely tactical race while displaying a strategic maturity far beyond her years. The LAC camp was gathered in unison for the 800m final for the U-15 girls and following the starters order the race pace was considered to be quick.

Rachel demonstrated her ability to instinctively read a race and managed to get herself into a great position over the first three laps and at the final kick for home was narrowly pipped for gold, yet she achieved her quickest time over 800m along with a Munster Indoor silver medal.

Harris’s bronze bound to the dias

At the U-17 long Jump, LAC’s Sean Harris bounded into the bronze position with a leap of 5.43m. The young man is focused on the outdoor season ahead and between the jump off and the medal ceremony; Sean was already discussing his outdoor training regime with his coach.

A full round-up of results and LAC positions will be posted when the competition concludes this evening.

Over the course of two days the LAC athletes smashed through personal best barriers and LAC’s Alana Frattaroli took home the gold medal and was crowned National Champion with an astonishing 12.72m shot that catapulted the 23-year-old into the record books. Alana’s shot is now the tenth best ever thrown indoors in Ireland. http://www.tilastopaja.org/db/toplist.php?list=topirlallt&Ind=1

Following the medal ceremony Alana tweeted: “Actually still can’t believe I’ve won my first seniors title and to top it off also got a PB 12.72!”

Her coach and proud father Dave Frattaroli said: “She is absolutely delighted and even if she came last in the event throwing a personal best would have been enough whereas now she has the bonus of a new PB and a national title. We’re absolutely thrilled.”

Munster Star Award 2015 recipient Stanly Ikeh had a memorable two days at the event as his time of 7.37secs over 60m initially appeared to have him not qualify for the semi-finals – it was reported that he was 16 hundredths of a second outside of qualifying – yet later it emerged that the 15-year-old had secured a semi-final run.

Stanley performed excellently in his semi-final heat and was pipped at the post by the eventual 2015 national champion Keith Pike from Clonliffe Harriers AC, also running was Jamaica’s Winston Barnes.

The LAC juvenile tweeted before the event: “First year running senior’s all I can hope is for good times and new PB’s but with God’s grace it may happen.” And happen it did as Stanley jumped 11.56m in the Triple Jump – his new PB – and the tenth best in the country this year.

It happened again for the 200m sprints where Stanley smashed through his previous best and posted a time of 23.81seconds over a lap of the AIT track.

Stanley commented that he had an incredible day running at the national seniors posting two new personal best and he would like to thank all at LAC for supporting him since he joined the club as a young boy. He is also looking forward to competing at the Munster’s and is confident of more accolades.

LAC’s Glodi Swana entered two sprinting events, the 60m and 200m. Glodi blasted out of the blocks in lane 7 of his heat in the 60m and posted an impressive time of 7.88seconds. Not his personal best but a time that was far faster than he expected to achieve on the day. In the 200m, young Swana was in the fifth heat of seven and posted an exceptional time of 24.87seconds.

Roland Pika represented LAC at the 60m and in the long jump. The young medical worker ran in lane 6 and posted 7.5seconds across the sprint distance. In the long jump Roland leaped into the championship’s top ten, finishing ninth overall with a 6.03metre jump.

The LAC community are extremely proud of all the achievements of its four representatives at the championships. Well done guys.

Other Limerick athletes at the event were Dooneen AC’s Niall Counihan who took the National title in the triple jump and 15-year-old Ciara Neville from Emerald AC who won silver in both the 60m and 60m Hurdles and setting a new national youth record while at it.

LIMERICK ATHLETIC CLUB’S Alana Frattaroli has taken the National Champion title at the GloHealth National Senior Indoor championships at Athlone International Arena, Saturday February 21, 2015.

Alana threw 6 Shots and with just one of them under 12 metres, and she smashed through her personal indoor best of 12.05m for the other five throws.

With an immense display of technique and proving she is a master in her class Alana demolished the other competitors with throws of 12.25m, 11.86m, 12.72m, 12.69m, 12.12m and 12.63m.

Second place went to Sophie Parkinson of Gowran FC with third to Laura McSweeney of Bandon AC, Congratulations from LAC to Alana’s podium partners.

Her coach and proud father Dave Frattaroli said: “She is absolutely delighted and even if she came last in the event throwing a personal best would have been enough whereas now she has the bonus of a new PB and a national title. We’re absolutely thrilled.”

The entire LAC community are delighted with Alana’s results today and we are all so proud to have a National Champion among our members.

THREE LAC relay teams have qualified for the National Championships from the Munster Juvenile Indoor Relay finals held Saturday February 7, 2015 at Nenagh Olympic Stadium.

The national qualifiers are the U-17 and U-18 Boys 4x200m teams and the U-13 Girls 4x100m team.

Medal winners from LAC were the U-17 and U-18 Boys team who secured gold in their 4x200m races while the U-10 and U-11 Girls teams captured silver in their 4x100m races and bronze medals were awarded to each of the U-9 Boys team and the U-13 Girls team.

Seventeen LAC relay teams were fielded for this fiercely competitive event and mere milliseconds separated many teams from reaching the finals or cheering on their fellow club members in the finals of the nineteen categories from U-9 to U-18s.

The U-9 Girls 4x100m team of Aoife Grimes, Aoife Feerick, Mae Farrell, Ellie Hogan and Lucy Power displayed the talent that is emerging within the younger club members by running a fantastic heat and narrowly missed out on a final place.

The U-9 Boys 4x100m team of Paddy O’Driscoll, Marcus Southern, Luke Calitz, Jack O’Neill and Dylan Collins qualified from their heat and ran a superb race ensuring a podium finish and a bronze medal for their efforts.

The U-10 Girls 4x100m team of Leagh Moloney, Ellen Hosey, Yanna Leahy, Rachel Shannon and Aoife Grimes qualified as the second fastest team behind Dooneen AC and ahead of Belgooly AC and for the medal positions remained consistent securing a silver medal.

The U-10 Boys 4×100 team of Sean McHugo, Matthew Burke, Callum Byrne, and Marcus Southern came third in their heat and despite this excellent run narrowly missed out on a final position to Midleton AC.

The U-11 Girls 4x100m team of Laura Southern, Mollie Quirke, Kate O’Neill, Leagh Moloney and Yanna Leahy qualified for the final in the fourth fastest time and incredibly surpassed their time to take the silver medal in the finals finishing ahead of Dooneen B and Templemore AC.

LAC fielded two teams for the U-11 Boys 4x100m; Team 1 were Daniel Walker, Aaron O’Connor, Conor Gavin, Matthew Carroll and Matthew Burke and Team 2 were Luke Hession, Tommy O’Driscoll, Jack Doyle, Sam Voye and Daithí Gallagher. Both teams ran fantastic races and were extremely unlucky to miss out on final qualification by less than one second.

There were also two U-12 Girls 4x100m teams. Team 1 was Sarah Hosey, Emily O’Sullivan, Ellen Costelloe, Fiona O’Connor and Laura Southern and Team 2 was made up from Amy McMahon, Olivia Kiely, Sorcha Jennings, Sarah-Jane Flynn and Aobha Geary. Both teams finished third in their heat but a couple of milliseconds kept them out of the finals.

The U-12 Boys 4x100m team of Daragh Murphy, Fionn Mulrooney, Cillian Lynch, Fergal de Barra and Luke Hession finished fourth in their heat and again just narrowly missed out on the finals.

The U-13 Girls 4x100m team of Ciara Grimes, Emer Ryan, Ella Hession, Dharma Griffin and Grace Malone executed a superb qualification race and were awarded a podium finish taking the bronze medal in one of the closest finals of the day.

Two LAC U-14 Girls 4x200m were entered. Team 1 was Roisín O’Connor, Ellen Mulrooney, Aiyuni O’Grady, Rebecca Kiely and Ella Hession. Team 2 was made up from Makayla Ryan-Wade, Clodagh Prendeville, Eva O’Connor, Alex Kiely and Ciara Grimes. Both teams finished third in each of their heats and unfortunately less than a second separated them from reaching the finals in one of the biggest and most competitive categories.

The U-15 Girls 4x200m team of Aoife Mangan, Hanna Hartnett, Caoimhe Ryan, Asia O’Brien and Rachel Hosey ran superbly in their heat finishing second, but, alas were deprived of a final run by less than a second losing out to St Mary’s of Rathkeale and Bandon AC.

The U-16 Girls 4x200m team of Ellen Regan Magner, Rachel Hosey, Orla Gallagher, Laura Hession and Caoimhe Ryan managed fourth in their heat. A special commendation goes to Caoimhe Ryan who bravely stepped in to substitute for Rachel Hosey despite picking up an injury in her earlier race.

The U-17 Boys 4x200m team of Stanley Ikeh, Sean Harris, Shayne Hartigan and Junior Echeruwe executed a master class in relay racing and not only did they secure the gold medal, but their time of 1:39:68 marks that team down in Nenagh Olympic stadium history granting them the second fastest time and 52 hundredths of a second behind the course record for their age group.

The U-18 Boys 4x200m team of Stanley Ikeh, Glody Swana, Joseph Spratt and Junior Echeruwe took an easy gold medal for their appearance and demonstrated to a packed arena how to run a flawless relay race. The stadium erupted into a rapturous applause when LAC crossed the finish line in first place.

LAC would like to thank all the athletes and coaches who have devoted extra training time in preparation for this event and to field 17 teams across the 19 categories is testament to the dedication of all involved. Congratulations to all for your participation. The LAC community is extremely proud of all of your efforts.